Apple's iPad 2 launch in Asia draws long lines

The rollout of Apple's iPad 2 in Asia drew thousands of interested customers looking to be among the first to officially purchase the touchscreen tablet in their countries.

After having missed last month's international launch because of a devastating natural disaster, Japan on Thursday became the first Asian country to begin selling the iPad 2. According to The Wall Street Journal, the line for the iPad 2 at Apple's flagship Ginza retail store in Tokyo stretched for three blocks.

The first customer in line had waited since 8 p.m. on Wednesday, braving a night of heavy rain. Though Thursday's crowds were tamer than last year's "frenzy" for the original iPad, a "respectable-sized crowd" gathered for the launch.

The iPad 2 in Japan starts at 44,800 yen, (roughly $549 dollars), a price similar to that of the first-generation iPad when it went on sale last year.

At one store in Hong Kong, over 400 customers endured the rain on Friday to purchase the iPad 2. "A long queue snaked around the Apple shop in a major downtown shopping centre with several groups of shoppers loading as many as a dozen iPads onto trolleys," the Associated Foreign Pressreported.

The device was out of stock in Hong Kong by midday, the report noted. At an Apple authorized shop in Singapore, only 100 devices were available for sale, while 100 invited customers lined up at midnight at a KT store in Seoul, South Korea.

Hong Kong has seen its share of excitement this week, as the white iPhone 4 launched there on Thursday and reportedly sold out within one hour.

Apple announced on Wednesday that the iPad 2 would debut in Japan, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korean Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates this week. The iPad 2 will go on sale in China on May 6.

The first international launch of the iPad 2 on March 25 also drew lines. Some analysts had suggested that the international launch would be delayed because of continued stock outs of the iPad 2 in the U.S., but Apple went ahead with the launch as planned in spite of constrained inventory

During a quarterly earnings call last week, Apple said that it's selling every iPad 2 it can make, but faces "the mother of all backlogs."

According to one well-connected analyst, Apple is set to ramp up iPad 2 production to grow shipments by more than 100 percent sequentially. Apple is expected to ship roughly 40 million iPads this year.

Went to a local mall in my city (Petaling Jaya) early this morning to pick up one. When I got there (at about 8.30am) there were already more than 20 people ahead of me.

By 10.30am - which is when the store usually opens - there were more than 60 people in line. Some of them had to be turned away because they ran out of units to sell.

Elsewhere in Kuala Lumpur (the capital - incidentally quite near me) buyers numbered over a hundred at most stores. I wouldn't be surprised if my part of the country had completely ran out of iPads by lunchtime.

I don't think they should let people buy dozens when there have been others waiting in the queue for hours. I remember when the iPhone first came out where I live there was a limit of two per customer.

Anyway, to those lucky enough to get one - enjoy! I only have an iPad 1, but I have heard from acquaintances that the 2 is noticeably more responsive.

In fact the store had 20 pieces of the 64GB 3G+WiFi model and all of them were only available for people who had pre-registered by paying an advance. I was lucky since I was a regular customer at the Apple store and I didn't have to pay an advance to book the model like the others.

I really love how sleek it is compared to the original iPad. Can't wait to start using it!

The long lines are expected worldwide, but what seems to be more silly is that their allocation of stock in Apple Online Store Hong Kong was such a joke, its like whats the point of clicking it, when you cannot even pre-order. Apple should have notice this, they have plenty of fans in this region, they should have stock up. Creating a buzz in the market is one thing, but extreme inconvenience of getting one makes loyal users feels angry I am one of the die hard Mac user, and has never experience getting a red hot Apple product will have to go through so much inconvenience, this is not a limited supply product. No wonder the grey market is so active, Apple basically helps to create this market. I rather hope Apple will delay the announcement until they have sufficient stock, this is just ridiculous.

Apple store at Ginza may have had lines around the block, but Apple store in Kichijoji was a ghost town. You could walk in off the street and buy as many iPad2s as you wanted. Makes me wonder if the Ginza store wasn't staged as a publicity stunt.

Its nice to hear one Japanese user reporting the line problems are not everywhere. Maybe is because of the nasty radiation which affects the buying pattern. However, products this hot, should have been more carefully rolled out.

In fact the store had 20 pieces of the 64GB 3G+WiFi model and all of them were only available for people who had pre-registered by paying an advance. I was lucky since I was a regular customer at the Apple store and I didn't have to pay an advance to book the model like the others.

I really love how sleek it is compared to the original iPad. Can't wait to start using it!

A couple of questions:
1) Who do you like for 3G service? A few months ago, I went into a Reliance shop and picked up a 3G USB modem for my MacBook. It was not very "reliant". \ Most shops tend to freak out at the very sight of an Apple logo. Are there any "Mac-friendly" 3G providers?

2) Where did you pick up your iPad 2?

I'm actually planning on having a friend bring one to me from the US, so I don't have to pay the 25-30% "luxury tax" for buying it here.

In fact the store had 20 pieces of the 64GB 3G+WiFi model and all of them were only available for people who had pre-registered by paying an advance. I was lucky since I was a regular customer at the Apple store and I didn't have to pay an advance to book the model like the others.

I really love how sleek it is compared to the original iPad. Can't wait to start using it!

A couple of questions:
1) Who do you like for 3G service? A few months ago, I went into a Reliance shop and picked up a 3G USB modem for my MacBook. It was not very "reliant". \ Most shops tend to freak out at the very sight of an Apple logo. Are there any "Mac-friendly" 3G providers?

2) Where did you pick up your iPad 2?

I'm actually planning on having a friend bring one to me from the US, so I don't have to pay the 25-30% "luxury tax" for buying it here.

Is 3G service available yet in India? I thought that licenses had only been recently handed out?

Connected to whom? Someone at Apple? I doubt it. Apple doesn't seem to me to be the type of company that does any analyst any special favors. In fact, with regulation FD and how aggressively the SEC is now going after this sort of thing, Apple would be foolish to even be associated with the slightest whiff of providing information favors.